iPod Boosts Apple Profit 27%

Elena
19 Oct, 2006
New York City

Apple posted earnings of $546 million, or 62 cents per share, up from $430 million, 50 cents per share last year, easily beating expectations of 51 cents a share on sales of $4.66 billion. Revenue for the quarter jumped 32% to $4.84 billion. Apple said that for the quarter it shipped 8.7 million iPods, 35% more from the year-ago period and 1.6 million computers, up 30% from a year earlier.

[R]8:00AM Apple Computer posted 27% profit rise in Q4 on strong sales of iPod.[/R]
Apple Computer Inc. ((AAPL)) reported Q4 profit increase of 27%, boosted by strong sales of its iPod and Macintosh computers. Apple said that for the quarter it shipped 8.7 million iPods, 35% more from the year-ago period and 1.6 million computers, up 30% from a year earlier.

Apple posted earnings of $546 million, or 62 cents per share, up from $430 million, 50 cents per share last year, easily beating expectations of 51 cents a share on sales of $4.66 billion. Revenue for the quarter jumped 32% to $4.84 billion. Revenue for the quarter jumped 32% to $4.84 billion. Apple''s fiscal 2006 revenue hit a record $19.3 billion, surpassing its previous all-time high of $13.9 billion last year. The company ended the year with more than $10 billion in cash, up from more than $8 billion fiscal 2005. For the full fiscal year, Apple said it earned $1.99 billion, or $2.27 per share, up from $1.335 billion, or $1.56 per share, the previous period.

Sales for all computers reached $2.2 billion, up 37% from a year-ago, while sales of iPods reached $1.56 billion, up 29%. The iconic portable music player accounted for about a third of Apple''s quarterly sales. For the fiscal year, Apple sold more than 39 million iPods and 5.3 million Macs.

Apple officials said they were optimistic about the current holiday quarter. For Q1, Apple expects revenue of $6 billion to $6.2 billion and earnings per share of 70 cents to 73 cents. The company warned that it might have to restate some of the results later on.


[R]7:30AM Asian markets end mixed, Japan falls on chip-makers.[/R]
Asian maarkets were mostly lower on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average shed 0.6% to 16551.36, following a 0.25% increase the previous day. Sony declined 0.4%. as it revised its guidance down, due to the fallout from its laptop battery recalls just after the market closed. Advantest dipped 4.4%, pulled down by an overnight slump on the tech-heavy Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector Index in the US. Nissan shares fell as much as 1.5% after the company said it has begun recalling more than 130,000 vehicles to repair an ignition key defect.

Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 0.34% to 17986.97. The China Enterprises Index ended little changed at 7,440.32. Shares of Cathay Pacific Airways advanced 2.3%, buoyed by softening crude-oil prices.

The Kospi in South Korea ended flat at 1354.06, Taiwan shares fell 0.3% to 6995.83. The Straits Times index in Singapore bucked the trend, gaining 0.64% to 2659.37. Australia S&P/ASX 200 swung from early gains to end down 0.5%. Shares of Woodside Petroleum shed 2.6% after the company reported a 28% jump in production for the third quarter from a year earlier but warned its may struggle to meet full-year production targets.


[R]6:30AM Earnings and U.S.-inspired profit-taking lower stocks in Europe.[/R]
European markets were lower by mid-morning on Thursday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index sank 0.5% to 6,123.30, the French CAC-40 index was 0.5% lower at 5,336.49, and the German DAX Xetra 30 index declined 0.4% to 6,157.06.

Advancers

Metrovacesa, the Spanish property group led the advancers. Amid bid speculation, the shares were up 3.8%, extending a gain of 8.7% on Wednesday. The increase over the past month has been over 50%.
Shares in Atos surged 19% amid talk of a potential buyout by Blackstone. Ericsson was up 1.1%, reversing pre-open losses, as the mobile network equipment maker produced earnings that shaded analyst expectations.

Fiat, Italian car maker was up 2.6% after it hit a four and a half year high on Wednesday. Akzo Nobel bounced back, up 2.7% after taking a plunge on Wednesday when the Dutch pharmaceutical group warned of a delay to the launch of its anti-schizophrenia drug, asenapine.

Some financial stocks also faired well. Banco Popular gained of 2.1%, after its third quarter earnings just beat expectations, despite the fact that Goldman Sachs downgraded the bank to sell from neutral.

Decliners

Shares in SAP dropped 2.4% after the company reported a cautious outlook despite beating quarterly forecasts. German semiconductor company Infineon fell 1.8% as its US rival AMD noted compressed profit margins. Safran declined 1.6%, reversing a 5.7% gain on Wednesday.

The food and beverage sector were one of the biggest decliners in early trading, after Nestle shares shed 1.4% after a recent strong performance.

Oil and gold

Oil prices gained Thursday as traders awaited the outcome of a meeting of the OPEC to discuss a possible reduction in production to prop up prices. Light, sweet crude oil for November delivery rose 29 cents to $57.94 a barrel in on the NYME. Brent crude for December delivery on London ICE Futures exchange rose 34 cents to $59.92 a barrel.


Gold opened Thursday at a bid price of $588.80 a troy ounce, down from $592.80 late Wednesday.

Currencies

The euro recouped Thursday against the U.S. dollar ahead of new U.S. economic data that could offer more direction. The euro bought $1.2555 in morning European trading, up from $1.2533 in New York late Wednesday. The British pound rose to $1.8719 from $1.8675. The dollar declined to 118.53 Japanese yen from 118.92 yen.